– Thrillers That Make You Think

Help Me Reach My Goal of Becoming a Full-time Author

For some it may be critical acclaim – prizes, reviews in the Guardian or the Times Literary Supplement, a tweet by Margaret Atwood praising your book (although I wouldn’t say no to that).

For others, it’s internal – writing the stories they love and getting pleasure from it. Writing can be great for mental health – I know that if I take a day off I’m more likely to be snappy with my family (hopefully they’ll read this and give me more time to write).

But for me, my goal is simple. I want to write and sell enough books to earn a full-time living as an author. This means reaching out to find new readers and especially finding superfans who will read all of my books and tell all their friends about them.

I’m a long way off this goal right now – with just one novel out, I can’t possibly expect to earn enough. Some people say you need 20 books to earn a living, others say it’s closer to 10 – I’m aiming for 12, which is what I plan to publish over the next three years.

How You Can Help

If you enjoy my stories, you can help with this. Firstly by following me via my newsletter and on Amazon and Goodreads. Secondly by buying my books and encouraging your friends to do so too. But there’s a third way to support my writing, and that’s by becoming a patron.

But if you support me, you don’t just get the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve made a struggling author very happy. You’ll also get benefits:

If you pledge $2 per month (which is about £1.50 – much less than the price of buying me a coffee), you’ll get to read all of my books months before they come out. I’ll publish an early draft (not the first draft, you wouldn’t want to see that) on Patreon, with a new chapter or set of chapters at least once a week. I’m currently publishing my political thriller, A House Divided, on Patreon.

If you’re feeling really generous and can pledge $5 per month (about the price of a pint of beer here in the UK), you’ll get the early chapters of my books as I’m writing them AND you’ll get each of my books in digital form when they come out, in the format of your choosing.

And if you’re feeling super generous and pledge $10 per month (and I’ll be honest I’m not really expecting anyone to do this), you’ll get everything above PLUS a paperback copy of each book as it comes out.

If I can build up support on Patreon it means a regular income to support my writing. If 100 people sign up, I can take a day off my day job every month to write more. Which will help me get closer to that goal of 12 books.

If you can help, I’ll be very grateful. Please check out my Patreon page to find out more.